Archive for the ‘crysis’ tag

I noticed a rather interesting trend in the uptake of the latest generation of consoles over the last few weeks. I don’t usually take much notice of them to be honest. I haven’t bought a new console since PC upgrades started being affordable to me, and it’s been that way since the N64 started showing its age.

However, the majority of ‘what was great in 2009' and general 'over the shoulder glance' articles about the previous decade's tech meant I couldn’t really avoid reading about the PS3 or Xbox 360. What I read lead me to an interesting idea.

It came, it saw, it conquered - our PCs that is. It's rare that we've seen a game that was so demanding on its release. The question 'Yeah, but can it play Crysis?' is now a comical catchphrase addition to most graphics card reviews. It was responsible for tens of thousands of bank managers groaning under the huge wake of costly upgrades. Now the dust has all but settled, did Crytek's awesome DX10 FPS help or hinder the PC gaming industry?

Are you in the market for a new graphics card? Well, for the first time in quite a while, there are some great deals to be had. While the ATI Radeon HD 4770 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 275 are good deals, in the past I've rarely bought new hardware as soon as it’s released. What I've tended to do is wait for new releases and then look at older, high-end hardware, as prices tend to tumble.

During October of last year, in an interview with CVG, Valve’s vice president of marketing, Doug Lombardi stated that he believes PC gaming graphics are close to being as good as they’ll get.

Lombardi told CVG that he believes that ‘graphics have started to top-out. We've got really great-looking games but what we want are more intelligent, more visceral games and the multi-core processors are going to be the way that we get there on PC.’

Some of you might feel that this is nonsense; others might feel that it’s true but you wish it wasn’t because you want to be dazzled by graphical feats of unimaginable excellence. Personally, not only do I believe that Lombardi’s statement holds a good deal of truth but I also actually hope that he’s right.

It’s Friday and Episode 21 of the Custom PC podcast is here. The team discuss Nvidia’s new 216 stream processor GTX 260, and why it doesn’t have a new name, along with idiotic PC game piracy comments from Epic. The games chart is full of new arrivals, so we get to grips with Crysis Warhead, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, Spore and Warhammer Online. James also offers some useful tips on aeroplane design.

The CPC podcast is 10 and we’ve got a gaming special to celebrate. Alex, James, Clive and Chris have Crysis to discuss, along with immersive gaming, the i31 LAN party and the launch of the Omega Sektor. The top 10 games chart and the competition return as well.